


Echoes- Kairizine 2019 Piece

by nanaprincess91



Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family Bonding, Hurt/Comfort, Kairi Appreciation (Kingdom Hearts), Kairi-centric (Kingdom Hearts)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-15
Updated: 2020-07-15
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:14:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25275997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nanaprincess91/pseuds/nanaprincess91
Summary: "It was quick, like a flash of lightning illuminating the dark that was her childhood memory. There was no face, just a jog, but Kairi felt...love? It disappeared as quickly as she had remembered. A familiar stranger. An anonymous loved one."A visit to Radiant Garden leaves Kairi questioning her definitions of family and home. Set Post-KH3
Relationships: Kairi & Naminé (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 15





	Echoes- Kairizine 2019 Piece

**Author's Note:**

> I want to thank everyone who is tuning into this oneshot. This was written for the Step Forward 2019 Karizine. I cannot thank the Step Forward team enough.  
> I wanted to explore Kairi's feelings towards Radiant Garden, especially after finding out that world has been restored. Does she miss her birth family? Does she want to find them? I imagine it can't be easy. I hope you all enjoy!

Kairi wished she could remember something. Anything. But the strong stone murals around Radiant Garden and its bubbling crystal fountains did little to stir Kairi’s heart. They were lovely, no doubt, complementing the bright green parks and the tapestries of flower gardens, but this world felt like any other she had visited during her recent travels: another stop on the way.

This was her birth world. She had taken her first steps here, learned her first words. She had once had a grandmother, both Aqua and Sora had told her. The first four years of her life had been here.

_ But I don’t feel anything,  _ Kairi thought to herself.

She settled on the upper terrace by the castle though she kept her distance, finding she was unwilling to get closer to the looming structure. Something within her told her that there had once been danger there.

Home.

At one point, this whole world had been home.

But now, when Kairi thought of home, her mind drifted to gentle ocean waves and the sound of rustling palm trees. The dirt roads of the town, the sound of bike tires bumping along rising roots, and the smell of warm curry cooked outdoors on a woodfire flame. It was all she’d ever known.

“Mommy!”

Kairi found herself turning automatically. Ahead, a girl—brown hair in a thick braid—reached the end of a raised border she had been balancing on and shuffled her feet. The child glanced backward at a woman standing at a flower cart with one hand on her hip who gave the girl a slightly exasperated look. 

“Mommy, it’s lava!”

However, as the little girl called out again with a smile, the woman’s exasperation fell away to an amused look and she walked over.

“Alright, alright. Ready?”

She gripped the girl’s hands and pulled her upward; the little girl’s legs curled up in the air to avoid the ground as her mother walked her to the next edge. She quickly landed on the new edge and started her balancing act again. 

Had Kairi been that way as a child? Had her mother or father carried her across imaginary lava pits, perched precariously on balance beams of graystone? If she had grown up here instead of the islands, would she have grown up planting gardens, playing improvised hopscotch games and “The Floor is Lava” on the cobblestone streets? Would she have driven her parents mad by jumping into the decorative fountains or looked over sunsets from the many balconies of the city instead of on palm trees? It seemed so fake yet Kairi’s heart almost longed for it. 

Kairi watched the mother head back to her post by the flower cart- 

_ Long red hair dancing in the city’s winds and a loud laugh. _

Kairi stood frozen in place. It was quick, like a flash of lightning illuminating the dark that was her childhood memory. There was no face, just a jog, but Kairi felt...love? It disappeared as quickly as she had remembered. A familiar stranger. An anonymous loved one. Someone lost to the years and a haze she could not penetrate. The vision made something in her heart ache. Kairi could only guess that had been her mother, but the fact she couldn’t  _ remember,  _ couldn’t confirm her identity made it worse. An aunt? A cousin? She didn’t know -  _ couldn’t  _ know. 

Kairi shook her head, hopping onto one of the ledges and sitting down, legs hanging off the side to the hundred foot drop below. She swung her feet, looking out at the vast town. Where was her birth family now? Were they still searching for the little girl who had gone missing nearly thirteen years ago? Or had they given up?

_ I could search for them,  _ she thought.  _ But… _

But what happened if she did find them? Would they expect her to stay here? To make a strange world into a new hearth...? Sure, she had done it before on Destiny Islands, but she had been a child then. What if when she met them, everything fell into place and, suddenly, she saw Radiant Garden with new eyes - eyes that demanded she stay and make up for the lost decade? Why was her heart racing so uncomfortably at the thought?

“Kairi?”

Kairi turned her head, spotting a familiar blond: her former Nobody. She should’ve known she’d show up. Though Namine was her own person, their bond had never quite gone away. 

Kairi waved. “Hi. I was going to come find you later, but I got a bit distracted looking out.”

A slight lie.

But Namine had been born from her heart- if anyone knew when something was up, it was her. “What’s wrong?”

Lying had never felt right anyway. Kairi sighed.

“Namine...What is a home?” She paused. “For you, I mean.”

Namine didn’t climb up beside Kairi, instead placing her elbows on the balcony’s ledge and resting her chin on one of her hands. “Well, I’ve only been my own person for a couple of years…”

“You were always your own person,” Kairi said quickly, but firmly.

Namine didn’t respond and Kairi frowned. Maybe it hadn’t been best to ask Namine. She had suffered through more hardships than any person should have. She had been held captive, forced to manipulate Sora’s memories by those she had shared a roof with, and then, to protect others, Namine had given up Sora, the first real friend she had ever made. Asking what a home was to Namine wasn’t fair.

So she was surprised when after a solid minute of silence, Namine spoke up again.

“I think home is a place of love. It’s made up of people who care for you and would help you. You know...like family.”

“Family,” Kairi repeated. “My family might be somewhere out there,” she said, gesturing out beyond the wall. “I’d have no clue.”

“Then, why not go find them?” Namine asked.

Kairi frowned. She didn’t want to tell Namine about her doubts. She didn’t. She was Kairi, a Princess of Heart and warrior of light; she wasn't supposed to have any fears or doubts. She had always been decisive about things, never doubting herself, so why now? 

Despite her reluctance, she slid herself back, landing back on the balcony. 

Kairi turned to give one last glance at the little girl, but she and her mother were gone. Instead, she saw a shock of short blue hair, a feminine figure reaching down to grab some flowers from- The figure flashed away. 

Kairi stared perplexed at the spot. 

“Kairi?” Namine asked.

“Hm?” Kairi turned back to the blond and shook her head. “It’s nothing.”

She started walking towards the steps, kicking little pebbles as she walked. The stones clicked softly as they bounced along the path, settling between grooves until Kairi kicked them again. Kairi could imagine them being the little clicks of shoes or a small, stone drum.

“I figured we could start at the Hall of Records,” Namine said brightly.

Kairi just gave her a nod. The girls reached the large stone stairs and began their descent. The hall was only a level lower. Kairi could already make out its pillars in the center for the square. Her steps faltered and as they did, she heard a man’s voice, distant and soft.

_ “Watch your step, Kairi.” _

Kairi’s breath hitched as she spun around. No one was there. A phantom voice. There and gone once again. 

Kairi furrowed her eyebrows and ran down the rest of the steps.

“Kairi! Wait!”

A flash of an elderly woman by a plot of daisies. Gone.

A small figure in a white dress running between buildings’ pillars. Vanished.

Strangers. Memories right out of grasp. She wanted to remember. She didn’t. 

_ “She’s afraid of so many little things,”  _ a voice said with a laugh.

_ You’re wrong.  _ She wasn’t. Kairi saw herself running down the sand after Riku and Sora, fearlessly climbing trees to throw down coconuts at them. She didn’t know who the fearful child the strangely familiar voice was referring to was. 

Kairi stopped breathlessly in front of the Hall of Records. She had her hands over her knees, taking short breaths, eyesight blurring, heart racing, but she stood up straight after another second. A large wooden sign hung on a little hook saying “ _ Closed for the day. _ ” Kairi could hear her heart start slowing down. Breathing became a little bit easier. 

Footsteps approached. “Kairi!” 

Kairi pointed to the sign. “It’s closed.” She turned and rested her back against the building, head leaning back to tap against the wall. She placed a hand to her chest. 

_ Traitor,  _ she told her pounding heart.

“You seem...relieved,” Namine mused. She turned and leaned against the building, next to Kairi. 

Kairi shrugged. “Maybe…..I don’t know.”

Namine let out a soft hum and Kairi knew it was an invitation to talk. She had always told the boys it didn’t help bottling up their feelings. It was time she took her own advice.

“Okay...maybe I am. I hear what you’re saying, about...about family but….” Kairi gestured out. “This is where I was born. This was home at one point and home is where your family is. And I don’t feel...anything about it. But my  _ family  _ might be somewhere out there and what if when I meet them...if I meet them, it all clicks? What will happen then? Who will I be?” She shook her head. “I’m from the islands. That’s who I’ve always been. But what if I meet them and everything that I thought I knew about myself just...changes.”

Kairi couldn’t stop the words. It was like a dam had broken and all the doubts she hadn’t known she carried came pouring out.

“You know...it’s like you and me,” Kairi said, exasperatedly. “We met, and everything changed, and now we’re connected. We care for each other because we came from that same place- and we’re family.”

Namine giggled and Kairi bristled. She didn’t mean to get mad, but it hurt that Namine would laugh at her pain. Her cheeks puffed up and she pushed herself off the wall, preparing to tell Namine just what she thought of her laughter when Namine placed a hand on Kairi’s arm.

“Oh Kairi, I don’t see you as family just because I was born from your heart.” 

She gave her a soft smile. Kairi froze, her anger subsiding.

“You don’t?”

Namine shook her head. “We’re family because you cared for me and protected me.” She placed a hand over her heart. “I might’ve first cared because I was your Nobody-”

Kairi opened her mouth to protest that Namine was  _ not  _ a Nobody, but Namine beat her to it.

“ _ Was.  _ But that’s not the point. I see you as family because...even though I took things from you, you never judged me.” Namine looked down at her hands. “You didn’t get angry and you fought to make me a Somebody. Being back in your heart, I saw how much you love others and move forward. You’re always trying to be brave for others and yourself, and I wanted to be like that.” She looked up at Kairi again. “I see you as family because when I showed up, you welcomed me with open arms.”

Kairi didn’t realize she had tears in her eyes until she blinked and felt one run down her face.

Welcomed with open arms.

Hadn’t that been what the people of Destiny Islands had done? 

Her parents, the mayor and her husband, had taken in a lost, amnesiac child—little older than a toddler—on a night of falling stars. They had given her a roof, a meal, and a childhood filled with love and support. Maybe she had been born in this world of stone and tiered gardens, of looming castles and waterfall fountains, but she had been nurtured under long, sunny days.

Kairi’s lullabies had been the sound of summer cicadas and waves crashing on powder sands. Her mother had taught her to be a leader and to do what was right. Her father had taught her to listen to others and to make charms from pieces of the land and sea. Kairi could see herself now, wobbling on her bike as her father held the vehicle steady, teaching her to balance. She could hear her mother singing with her ukelele. Every dance practice, every school presentation, every scraped knee from her jumps on the play island- her parents back on Destiny Island had been the ones to see them. She had learned the meaning of friendship with two boys and an endless parade of races and slumber parties and starry-skies, of sunsets, and raft-building, and dares. A bond that transcended time and worlds and death.

Her parents, her friends, her neighbors had given her that security, that love.  _ They  _ were home. How could Kairi have ever believed anything would change that? 

"You don't have to do it alone, you know.” Namine said softly. “You're always there for all of us. Let us do the same for you.”

Kairi wiped away her tears with a watery giggle, before wrapping Namine in a hug. “Thank you.” She pulled away, wiping at her eyes again.. “I think I’m ready to go home now. Some homemade curry sounds good, no?”

Namine nodded, glancing back at the Hall of Records. Kairi followed her gaze and walked over to the door, resting her hand on its panels. 

“I’ll be back another day,” she promised. “I’ll bring my parents along when I do. And you too, Namine.”

Kairi’s eyes twinkled as she placed her other hand over her heart. “We’ll read about it together.”

“It’ll be a family outing,” Namine said with a laugh.

Kairi joined her before she ran forward, lacing her arm through Namine’s, calling Destiny’s Embrace. They continued laughing as she opened a door back to Destiny Islands. If she focused hard, Kairi could almost hear other laughs from long ago joining hers as the gate closed. 


End file.
